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To see the intensified Spirit we need to spend a little time to look into the whole New Testament. The first chapter of the New Testament tells us how Christ was God incarnated to be a man, and this wonderful man is called Emmanuel, “God with us” (v. 23). God was incarnated to be a man so that He could be with us. Then, at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we are told to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (28:19).
These are the two ends of the Gospel of Matthew. The beginning tells us that God was incarnated as a man to be with us, and the end says that we must be baptized into the Triune God—into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is the first book of the New Testament.
Then when we come through the New Testament to the last book of Revelation, it is so interesting to notice that the Spirit of God is put into the second place of the Godhead. In Revelation 1:4-5 the seven Spirits of God are put before Jesus Christ in the order of the Godhead. This is because, as I have pointed out already (see The Stream, Feb. and May 1969), the age has been changed. Today is not the age of the Son but the age of the Spirit.
Let us read these verses: “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.”
In Matthew there is first the Father, second the Son, and third the Spirit. It is so clear that it is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But in Revelation it is the Father, the Spirit, and then the Son. Have you seen this change? In Matthew the Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, but in Revelation the third person becomes the second. There is a definite change. This is why we say that the age is changed. It is no longer the age of the Son but the age of the Spirit. In the Gospels the Son was second, but now in the book of Revelation the Spirit becomes the second. I must say again that the age has been changed! It has been changed to the Spirit.
In these days I have been so burdened to tell the children of God that the age has been changed. Some may not agree with this. They may say, “How can you say this? What proof do you have to say that the age has been changed?” The proof is here in Revelation 1:4-5, in the change in the order of the Godhead. Are we living in the days of Matthew, or are we in the days of Revelation? There is no doubt that we are in the days of Revelation, and even at the end of the days of Revelation.
O brothers and sisters, the age has been changed! The age has been changed! Today is not the age of Matthew but the age of Revelation, and we must realize that now we are not at the beginning of the age of Revelation but at the end. The age has been changed to the Spirit.
Do you think that this is only my opinion? Read your Bible again. Matthew tells us that God was incarnated so that we might be baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But in Revelation something has been changed. The Spirit becomes the second person of the Godhead.
Furthermore, the Spirit in Revelation is the sevenfold Spirit. The one Spirit becomes seven because it is now the age of the intensified Spirit. We need the sevenfold Spirit. This is not seven Spirits but the sevenfold Spirit, the intensified Spirit. How much we need the Spirit today! We need the Spirit seven times. Seven is the number of completion. We need the complete Spirit, the sevenfold Spirit.
Peter, John, and Matthew only needed the onefold Spirit, but today we need the sevenfold Spirit because we are so dead. Peter was not as dead as we are, so Peter only needed the onefold Spirit. But we are too dead. We need the Spirit to be intensified. We have dead teachings, we have dead doctrines, and we even make the Bible dead. We have so many dead churches, dead Christians, and dead books. Therefore, today we need the sevenfold Spirit. Are we in a living situation or a dead one? I believe we all would agree that we are in a dead situation. We have the Bible, but we need the intensified Spirit to enliven us and make us living.
The Lord Jesus came at a time when all the Jewish people had the Old Testament. The religious leaders of the Jewish people had the Scripture, but they had the Scripture in dead letters. The Lord came to those who had the Scripture in a dead way; He came to those who had the doctrines and the dead knowledge of God; He came to those who had the dead written code. They were supposed to be so religious and so much for God. They spoke to people continually regarding the things of God. But what was their situation? They were dead! They were dead religious people. They were dead people with a Bible in dead letters and with the dead knowledge of God. Were they Gentiles? Were they pagans? No, they were the chosen people of God. But when God was incarnated as a man to be with us, who opposed Him? Who opposed the Lord Jesus? It was those who had the Bible in their hands, those who had the dead knowledge of God in their minds. They were supposed to be so much for God, but eventually, they put the incarnated God, the Lord Jesus, to death.
It is the same with today’s situation in Christianity. What about your church? Is it dead or living? O brothers and sisters, the Lord be merciful to us that we do not remain the same as the Jews when Christ came. I am so burdened for the present situation of the Lord’s people because of today’s deadness: the dead teachings, the dead meetings, the dead “churches,” the dead knowledge, the dead messages, the dead books, and even the dead “Bible.”
Oh, the Lord be merciful to us. We are just dead! We have enough knowledge. We know everything. But the Bible in our hand is so dead. All the knowledge in our mind is so dead. What do we need? Do we need better expositions, better teachings, better doctrines, more books? No, we need the sevenfold intensified Spirit. It is not the knowledge but the sevenfold Spirit.
Read Revelation again. The age has been changed. Even the order of the Godhead has been changed, because of the deadness. Christianity today is dead. It is a dead religion. We need the book of Revelation. We need a change and a turn. Even in this book John the apostle was turned: “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands” (1:12).
We all need a turn, and we all need to be turned. We need to be isolated from today’s Christianity. At that time John was isolated on an island. Then he heard a voice, and when he turned, he saw seven golden lampstands. Let me ask you, “Have you seen?” I do not ask, “Do you know?” I ask, “Have you seen?”
We all need a turn from the dead doctrines to the sevenfold Spirit. We need a turn from the dead teachings to the sevenfold Spirit. We need a turn from the dead knowledge to the sevenfold Spirit. We even need a turn from our Bible of dead letters to the sevenfold Spirit.
It is not just my opinion that the age has been changed. From now on, the Lord will never honor the dead teachings. The dead teaching ministry is over. Today is the age of the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
Today the Spirit of God is the sevenfold Spirit, and this title of the Spirit is used four times in the book of Revelation (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). The Lord Jesus is the Holder of this intensified Spirit. “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1). The Lord is the Holder of the sevenfold Spirit, and He is also the Holder of the seven stars. He holds the sevenfold Spirit, and He holds us. So the sevenfold Spirit is just for us.
The age has truly been changed. It is not just a matter of the word spoken by the Lord or the word written in the Bible, but the speaking of the sevenfold Spirit. The intensified Spirit speaks to the local churches. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This word has been repeated seven times by the Lord (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
Today people speak so much about the universal church, but they look down upon the local churches. However, the Lord Jesus in Revelation speaks to the local churches. If He is speaking to the local churches, yet you are outside the local churches, you will completely miss this book. I do believe this is why this book is closed to so many. They only know the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. They have never seen the sevenfold Spirit for the local churches, because they are not in the local churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to whom? Is it to the saints, the universal church, the church in the heavens, or the New Jerusalem? No, it is to the churches, to the local churches.
So we see that the sevenfold Spirit is for the local churches. So many Christians have not seen the sevenfold Spirit. But this is in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. The Spirit’s position has been changed from the third place to the second place, and He has been intensified. One Spirit has become the sevenfold Spirit, and this is for the purpose of the local churches. It is not for you or me individually or for the church in the heavens. It is for the local churches on earth. “To the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace...from the seven Spirits” (1:4). The sevenfold Spirit is not for any individual or for the so-called universal church but for the local churches on this earth.
Today we need the intensified Spirit because of the degradation of the church. When the book of Revelation was written, the church had become degraded. The Lord became the intensified Spirit because of the degradation of the church. The history of the church tells us that even in the last part of the first century while the apostle John was still alive, the church had degraded from the Spirit to religion. The church had fallen from the living Spirit to dead religion. It was in such a situation that the Lord wrote this book to the seven local churches, using the title of the sevenfold Spirit. Under the degradation of the church, what we need is not religion or doctrines but the intensified Spirit.
The sevenfold Spirit is also the seven lamps of burning fire. “Out of the throne come forth lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (4:5). Why did the Spirit become like seven burning lamps? It is because the degraded church had become so cold. All the churches were like refrigerators, so the sevenfold Spirit came down to set them afire. Today the churches do not need cold teachings; they need the burning Spirit. We do not need to be coldly taught; we need to be set on fire.
Some people say that we must have a sober mind. But I am afraid that what they mean is not a sober mind but a cold mind. We may be exceedingly sober in a sense, but in another sense so cold. Are you burnt and burning? I do not want to teach you; I want to burn you. We must be set on fire to be burnt and burning. In such a cold age we do not need cold teachings and cold doctrines; we need the burning fire. The intensified Spirit is the burning fire to burn us.
Some say that we must keep a good order. When we are so cold, everything is orderly; but if this building were on fire, everyone would shout, “Fire! Fire!” Everything would be upside down. Cold teaching keeps us so silent, but the burning fire burns us until we cannot be silent. Do we need burning or teaching? Hallelujah! We need the burning. We need to be revolutionized.
Christianity is too silent and too cold. That is why we need to be burnt and burning all the time. The sevenfold Spirit is the seven burning lamps to set us on fire. This is what the degraded church, the dead church, the cold church, needs.
One further point: The seven Spirits are the seven lamps for enlightening. When we are cold and dead, we are in darkness. Coldness, deadness, and darkness always go together. When we need the burning and enlivening, we also need the enlightening. Light brings in life and warmth. The sevenfold Spirit is the enlightening lamps of burning fire. When He burns, He enlightens and enlivens us as well. He enlightens and enlivens us by burning us. Today we need the burning as well as the enlightening and enlivening of the intensified Spirit so that we may be set on fire to see the local churches and the Lord’s purpose and so that we might be made living.
It is so strange that the intensified Spirit is not only the seven lamps but also the seven eyes of the Lord. “I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (5:6). When the Lord was on earth, He had only two eyes, and I believe His eyes were always so mild and gentle. They would never cause one to be afraid of Him. But now He has seven eyes, just as the burning lamps. What kind of Jesus is this? We need such a Jesus today with seven eyes as the seven burning lamps. Then when He sees us, He will set us on fire. If His eyes look at us, we will be burnt. This is all we need today.
Yet we must keep in mind that this burning, sevenfold Spirit is not for any individual or for the so-called universal church. It is definitely for the local churches. If we would be burnt and burning, we must be in the local churches. The book of Revelation is not written to any individual saint or to the universal church in the heavens. It is a book written to the local churches on the earth. “What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches” (1:11). If we are going to listen, understand, and receive blessing from this book, we must be in the local churches. To receive anything, we must be in the proper position. The Lord will not change His position; we must change ours. The right position is to be in the local churches, for the Lord sent this book to the local churches. If we are not in the local churches, we lose our position, and if we miss the position, how can we understand? It is impossible. We must be in the local churches. This is not a small thing, for Revelation tells us clearly that the sevenfold Spirit is for the seven local churches.
There is something more that we must see about the intensified Spirit. In the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation, the Lord told John to write what He said (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of each epistle, the Lord said that we must hear what the Spirit says to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). At the beginning it is the Lord who speaks, but at the end it is the Spirit. We can read today what the Lord has put into writing, but simply reading the word of the Lord is not enough. We must also hear what the Spirit says. Only to have the written word is not adequate. We all need to hear the speaking Spirit.
The Old Testament always says, “Thus says Jehovah.” But in Revelation it is, “The Spirit says.” We all must realize that the age has been changed. Today is the age of the Spirit. What the Lord says in the Word is not enough; we must listen to what the Spirit says.
We have both the Bible and the Spirit. The Bible is a book which is already written, but what the Spirit says is something which is spoken instantly. Today’s dead Christianity only takes care of the written Bible. They argue that they are fundamental and scriptural. But they are fundamentally dead and scripturally cold. They only have the beginning of the seven epistles; they do not have the ending. They do not have the speaking Spirit.
At the end of each epistle, the Lord Jesus tells us that we must hear what the Spirit says to all the churches. Today we must listen to what the sevenfold Spirit speaks to us. We must not only read the written book but also listen to the speaking Spirit.
When I was young, I was taught that a Christian must keep the word of the Bible and do everything according to the Bible. I was never taught that I must listen to the speaking of the living Spirit. Even today many so-called Christian churches and teachers emphasize that we must understand the Bible, walk according to the Bible, and do everything according to the Bible. But the Lord Jesus tells us that this is not enough. I do not mean that we should drop the Bible. But beside the Bible, we need the speaking of the living Spirit. To only have the written Bible is not sufficient. We also need the speaking Spirit. We need the Spirit to speak to us through the Bible. We need the Spirit to make the Bible a living book to us. Praise the Lord, we have the written word in our hands, and we have the living Spirit in our spirit. We must have both. We need the Bible, and we need the Spirit—and even more, the intensified Spirit.
It is necessary that we read the written word. But it is more necessary to listen to the Spirit. We must hear what the Spirit says to the churches. It is not to the saints, or to the church, but to the churches. It is not to the church in the heavens but to the local churches on earth. This is why in this book of the Bible it does not say that the Lord says, or the apostle John says, but the Spirit says. In the Old Testament it is “Jehovah says.” In the Gospels it is “Jesus says.” In the Epistles it is always “the apostles say.” But in this book it is “the Spirit says.” This is because the age has been changed to the Spirit.
Eventually, in the book of Revelation, the Spirit and the church are one. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” (22:17). At the beginning the Spirit was speaking to the churches. But at the end the Spirit and the bride (composed of all the churches) speak together. The Spirit and the church have become one. This is the fulfillment of Matthew 28. The church has been baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit and the church are one.
We must learn to have our daily Christian walk according to the Spirit. I have mentioned already that I was taught when I was young that we must walk according to the Bible. But eventually, I found in the Bible that we must walk according to the Spirit. “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit” (Rom. 8:4). Galatians 5:16 and 25 say the same thing.
Some today would argue concerning whether we are right or wrong. But we would rather be livingly wrong than dead right. Whether we are wrong or not is questionable, but one thing is sure: those who argue about right and wrong are really dead. As long as you are dead, what is the value of being right? Sometimes I have said that the most right persons are those who are buried in the cemeteries. They can never do anything wrong. From the first day of the year to the last, they are always so dead right.
We must take care of whether we are living or dead more than whether we are right or wrong. We must walk livingly according to the Spirit. It is not a matter of whether we are right, but of whether we are living. It is not a matter of how to do this or how to do that; it is a matter of listening to and following the sevenfold Spirit.
The age is changed to the Spirit, so we all need a turn. So many people speak much about the church, but they have never been turned. To see the local churches with the intensified Spirit, we need a turn. John said that after he turned, he saw. I do believe that John at that time was quite disappointed. He knew the churches were deteriorating, and he was in exile from all the saints on the island of Patmos. In his disappointment he heard a voice, and when he turned to see the voice, he saw seven golden lampstands. He turned and he saw.
Oh, how we need to turn today! We need to turn from doctrines to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from teachings to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from religion to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from Christian traditions to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from what we know to the sevenfold Spirit. It is only when we turn from our mind to the Spirit that we will see that the sevenfold intensified Spirit is for the local churches.
